Silicone improves whisks

Silicone products continue to flood our kitchens with new ideas for old utensils, including the nonscratch whisk.

Jim Hillibish

Silicone products continue to flood our kitchens with new ideas for old utensils, including the nonscratch whisk.

This is a stainless-steel whisk with the wires and possibly a handle coated with silicone. The main benefit, and it is a big one, is you no longer risk scratching your cookware with bare-metal utensils. The silicone is a perfect cover, resistant up to 750 degrees.

Silicone whisk types:

- Balloon, shaped like hot-air balloons. Good for all-purpose bowl mixing, including the most common job, scrambling eggs.

- Spiral wire, shaped into rings for flat pans.

- French-style, long and thin for small saucepans.

- Oval, spring-molded into a flat circle for round pans.

- Butterfly, with wing-like curls of wire to add air to sauces.

- Flat, doubles as a spatula.

Many cost less than $10, and they provide good insurance for your expensive cookware.